Mostly Illiterate

 

Since I work for a bank, I get all sorts of extra holidays, including Veterans Day. Kyle suggested we all head out to Castle Rock State Park, in Oregon, Illinois since it’s going to be closing at the end of November. It was colder than the dickens and started raining later in the morning, but it was still a nice day.

More pics are here.

This year’s festivities and observances are far too numerous for my taste, but Axel really seems to be enjoying himself.

The fun started with a trip to a pumpkin patch.

Then on Saturday, we went to the 16th Annual Halloween “Spook”tacular at the Tivoli Theater, where Axel won 4th place in his age group and this guy didn’t win best-in-show even though he totally deserved it.

Saturday night, we all got dressed up for a friend’s kinda-annual gig. Tanya put a lot of effort into making our costumes and I think they turned out great.

On Sunday, Tanya and Axel went to the Costume Parade in Downers Grove where Axel won 2nd place!

Since Halloween for reals is this coming Friday, I expect there will be lots more pictures to come.

Axel and I went to downtown Downers Grove today to see the Wheely BIG Trucks event hosted by the Downers Grove Park District. We got to climb all over trucks and buses and front loaders and boom lifts and whatever the hell this thing is.

Oddly, the school bus was a big hit with Axel.

We even got to ride some rides. Axel took this bucket 180 feet into the air.

And then he got to ride this thing, which simulates a 30-mile-an-hour rollover accident.

During the first part of the ride, you wear your seat belt.

During the second part, though, you take it off to see how much better it is to be thrown clear to safety!

Every year, several local communities participate in a Silent Parade to commemorate the people — firefighters and civilians — who lost their lives in fires during the previous year. Lights only. No sirens.

Every year, the procession passes in front of our house.

To all of the friends, colleagues, and families of those who gave their lives to protect us, we appreciate your sacrifice.

I had the carcass for this thing mostly assembled a few months ago, leaving only the finishing.

Only the finishing. The part I hate doing.

Turns out I’m not alone, as I found out during a cabinet making workshop I attended this past weekend at the Woodridge Woodcraft store — a birthday present from my parents.

This past weekend, I mounted the thing on the wall. And then I folded it up. That way, I can still park my car in the garage and walk around it to get to the basement.

I pulled an M.V. Thornton special with a switch to automatically turn that light off when I close the box.

This isn’t the best work I’ve ever done, but it’s for the garage and I used it as a learning experience, so I’ll call it a success.

There’s this song. I’ve heard it all sorts of places. On This American Life. In T. J. Maxx. At odd, random moments, the sound of the cowbell and the horns come drifting over me and I’ve always felt a little happier. But it has driven me crazy because I didn’t know the name of the song or the artist.

So, after years of searching the web in vain, I finally got my friends involved. At the 8:15 mark in episode #116 of This American Life, “Poultry Slam,” is where the song starts. I played it for people at work. I played it for people over the phone.

Finally, I played it for a friend of mine — let’s call her Lethany Bankin — and she said, “I know that song! It’s…it’s called something like ‘Something in the Something.’”

Real frigging helpful, I told her.

She told me to shut the hell up and kept thinking. Finally, she yells, “‘Grazing in the Grass!’”

And sure enough, the name of the song is “Grazing in the Grass” by Hugh Masekela. My friend Lethany is the best person in the world! This week, anyway.

Thanks, Lethany!

Axel and Tanya joined Tanya’s folks on a motorhome trip up to the Wisconsin Dells on Monday. I had to stick around home for work but was able to catch up to them on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, they went to the Circus Museum in Baraboo where Axel got to ride an elephant, thanks to Zaneida who was the only one who could ride with Axel without going over the weight limit.

There have been a lot of rumors that the Dells are mostly shut down because of the draining of Lake Delton, but that’s not entirely true. The Duck tours, which go back and forth between the lake and the Wisconsin River, aren’t doing so well, but the boat tours of the Upper Dells are running just fine.

We hit Noah’s Ark Water Park on Thursday. We got there about half an hour before the place opened and left 15 minutes after they closed. Axel had a great big smile on his teeth-chattering, blue-lipped face.

On our way home on Friday, we stopped in Spring Green to visit House on the Rock. It’s crazy awesome.

Pics of our trip are here.

Pics of House on the Rock with descriptions lifted from Neil Gaiman’s American Gods are here.

Tanya got banished from the house for a day, so Axel, Kyle, and I spent the day at the National Criterium Championship bicycle races in Downers Grove. There are pics here.

We rode into town from my house, with Axel in the trailer behind my new bike. We had a nice breakfast at Dali’s Cafe (I love their Dali’s Skillet, and Kyle practically swoons over their Carmelized Pecan Pancakes), watched some racing, then had lunch and a couple of pints of liquid refreshment on the patio at Ballydoyle.

We rode back home, watched some Word World with Axel (the kid goes batshit over that show, and it seems to enthrall adults, too). Then the boy went down for his nap, and Kyle and I watched a little Ong Bak over a couple of 14-year-old Obans. When we emerged from our Scotch-induced stupors, we went outside to point and laugh at Tanya’s new bike, just ’cause we’re mean.

Then Kyle left and Tanya came home and the guys’ day was over, which meant I had to make dinner.

I took the day off and we all went up to Union, Illinois to visit the Illinois Railway Museum where they were having the 2008 Day Out With Thomas. We rode Thomas, Axel got to try the handcars, we rode the street cars all around the museum grounds, and we saw their model train display. It was a beautiful day and we all slept like rocks Friday night.

There are more pics of the day here.